BOOK REVIEW: THE HOOK UP BY KRISTEN CALLIHAN

The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all… No falling in love.

Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy right?

Too bad he’s committed to making her break every rule…

Football has been good to Drew. It’s given him recognition, two National Championships, and the Heisman. But what he really craves is sexy yet prickly Anna Jones. Her cutting humor and blatant disregard for his fame turns him on like nothing else. But there’s one problem: she's shut him down. Completely.

That is until a chance encounter leads to the hottest sex of their lives, along with the possibility of something great. Unfortunately, Anna wants it to remain a hook up. Now it’s up to Drew to tempt her with more: more sex, more satisfaction, more time with him. Until she’s truly hooked. It's a good thing Drew knows all about winning.

All’s fair in love and football…Game on.

I loved this book. I seriously loved it. I can't rate it lower than 5 stars, it was just so good! I found this one on BookBub and thought the idea of the story was good. I was interested to see how it goes and, well, it's not like the other NA books, that's for sure. Why? Let me tell you.

First off, the characters are different. We have the main character, Anna Jones. She's not the typical 'skinny brunette virgin' we get in all the other books - she's the complete opposite. She's not a virgin for a start, which as an NA reader, is quite refreshing. It's always the same, the girl waits forever to give her virginity to someone special and ends up giving it to the manwhore anyway. But nope, Anna has had boyfriends before. She's also a redhead - power to the redheads! They get way too much stick - and she's curvy. But she's not 'oh I'm so fat, I'm fat' all the time. She used to be and now she's gained a bit of confidence. She still does feel a bit down about her past, as she was previously bullied and taunted at school (nothing too dramatic), but she doesn't keep going on about it. You go girl! And a lot of the characters have a large appreciation for her big boobs, which is quite funny.

She's opinionated, she said what she thought, and she was strong. Tough. She didn't let Drew win and stood her ground. She's also smart and *gasp* has more than one friend! I dislike that the main girl in a regular new adult book is some kind of social hermit - let the poor girl have some friends! But Anna does in this one.

And then we have Drew, he's our main man. And he's brilliant! He had his traumatic past, what with losing his parents, but he didn't let that control his life. Yes, he missed them but he didn't go on about it for some sympathy. He didn't use that to get girls or anything, or even use it as an excuse to sleep around. He's not a manwhore, he's just a regular bloke.

His sense of humour and his charismatic personality was really great to read, you can't not like this guy, he's lovable from page one. You'll love him and even Anna couldn't hate him for long. Wait until you read about his tattoo, too ;)

The relationship between him and Anna was something different. They had their really funny and cute banter, they're "friends with benefits" - and I use friends really loosely - but they gain a fantastic bond. And it's written so damn well! Their friendship isn't written up and rushed in a matter of 4 chapters, it's quite a long book, the author took her time with writing something so realistic and believable. But we all know how these type of books end and I have to say, it was just perfect. What I loved is that, yes they had their ups and downs, their struggles and issues, but it's real life. Nothing is perfect. Usually in NA books, it's one tiny fight and then a break up, then they realise they love eachother. No. Not this one.

They had a misunderstanding, sure, but it wasn't anything stupid or silly. The author didn't waste time at all with that part, and nearing the end, it got emotional regarding something that happens to Drew, and it was fantastic. It wasn't something dumb like a car crash or a random little dramatic piece just shoved in there for extra go, it was a real problem that he had to work around, and with Anna, they had to stick together. When you read this book, you'll know what I mean, but the last quarter of the book had emotions running high and things were really starting to happen. It was life like. I was so happy with it, it needed to happen and it was refreshing.

There were some great minor characters in there too, can't not love them. Some to lighten the mood and some to help with the emotions. I loved Gray, he was brilliant and supportive, a friend that Drew really needed, and I loved that he also became a good friend for Anna too. She struggled through Drew's problematic time too. I saw that he has his own book after this one so that'll be on my list to read. I hope it's like this one!

Another thing - the sex scenes. They were written so much better than a lot of other books I've read. Kristen Callihan did a great job with them, you can really feel the emotion when they're together and it wasn't the same thing over and over again. There's no getting bored reading the intimate scenes, because let's face it, sometimes it's the same scene just in a different place or just even a different moan. You can also see how the moments they share differ when Anna and Drew move from people who dislike eachother (well, from Anna's end), to friends who have sex to lovers. It wasn't robotic and you can really see the close bond they end up having and how well they get on.

I highly recommend everyone reads this book. I got it on sale on Amazon, and it was worth every penny. It's quite a long book, I was surprised at the length but it doesn't feel like it's dragging. Well written, fantastically written characters and a realistic and entertaining plot. Wonderful! Please get this book and meet these characters, you won't regret it.

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